Virgin America Off-Loads Traffic to Akamai to Speed Passenger Booking

Dennis Schaal, Skift

- Nov 19, 2013 8:45 am

Skift Take

There are few easier ways to lose a booking than fielding a website with pages that take forever to load, or mobile apps that get hung up when it’s time to make a decision on a flight. Virgin America is smart to make it a priority to improve the passenger experience way before boarding.

— Dennis Schaal

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Virgin America may tout its flashy interiors, in-flight Wi-Fi and live TV and movies, but the airline took steps to ensure that an improved passenger experience begins with its website and its mobile capabilities.

If travelers booking a flight on VirginAmerica.com or on mobile noticed that they could complete the transaction quicker than before, the airline says it knows why.

Virgin America earlier this year began off-loading up to 89% of its Web traffic to Akamai Technologies and its cloud-based Akamai Aqua Web Experience Solutions, leading to a 40% improvement in transaction times, the companies say. Virgin America also redirects mobile traffic to Akamai.

Dean Cookson, Virgin America’s CIO, says the move, which went live nine months ago, improved site performance in the airline’s East Coast markets, and provides for a more consistent Web experience overall.

With Winter on the way, and the travel disruptions it usually brings, that’s good news for Virgin America customers.

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